With a new governor in Albany and a brand-new interagency group working on early childhood policy in the Mayor's office, early childhood advocates across the city were already pondering what changes might be afoot--and whether the time had come for the city to move toward a more integrated, high-quality system of early care and education. Given such momentous change in city and state policy directions, Child Care, Inc. (CCI) convened a working forum in late March, "Building the Best: What's Next for Early Care and Education?" with top city and state officials keynoting the event. Co-sponsored by the Early Childhood Strategic Group and Quality New York, the event was meant to both update providers and advocates on new policy developments and to spark dialogue and conversation on how new policy directions might play out for parents, providers and the public at large. Planners for the event also hoped to build on the strategic thinking and momentum developed over the past decade in both policy and practice to move toward higher-quality, more integrated services for children and families. With so many programs now experienced at collaboration with DOE and ACS, the hope was to share lessons learned as new leadership emerges in both the Mayor's and Governor's offices. The forum was structured to elicit both the new thinking from policymakers and from providers on the ground, with presentations from the top city and state officials followed by respondents who considered the presentations from the point of view of parents, providers and broad policy. Smaller break-out groups then explored the issues in more depth, with specific feedback for policymakers and recommendations for next steps in creating a more unified, high-quality early childhood system. More than 250 early childhood educators and advocates packed the UJA Federation's Conference Center, abuzz with ideas and inspired by the new commitments that emerged over the course of the forum.